VOTING BY ELECTRIC SIGNAL

Evening Star, Issue 16625, 7 January 1918, Page 2

VOTING BY ELECTRIC SIGNAL

*- The feasibility of electrical /oting lias been under consideration lor many years by thoughtful legislators who realise that legislative, efficiency is seriously handicapped by the lime consumed in recording- yea ;urd nay votes. An electric system was tidopttd at 1915 by the State of Wisconsin, and hasi been in actual use in the capitol at Madison during t-lia legislative session. At its close every member of the assembly signed a letter declaring tho new system " a decided improvement over tho old way of voting." '-The device used in Wisconsin, which is uhc invention of Boxuctt L. Bobroll', of .Milwaukee, has also been demonstrated in Witsiiiiigton, and is said to have received iavorabio consideration irom a Congressional Committee and from individual members. This system, or one like it, the Des Moines ' Kegister' believes, mil sooner or later " be, installed in every legislature in the United States which is actuated by a desire to speed up public business." To quoto Irom a pamphlet describing the Wisconsin device: "In all legislative bodies—national, State, and municipal—an enormous amount of time is coi-sumca in taking yea or nay votes. The clerk must call the roll orally (in the United (States House of iiepreseutiuives he culls it twice), the vote or each member 'must bo reeorucd, and the yeas auu nays "must be totalled. It is a tedious, nervc-rackiug, timeconsummg task. " Inuring the Sixty-second Congress there were 368 roll-calls taken —each consuming on an average 45 minutes. Fnty-tive legislative days were therefore taken up in registering roll-calls alone. " All that any of these 368 45-minute rollcalls accomplished was to place the individual members of Congress on record on some question before the House. " Had it been possible lor the members of Congress to register their votes at the same timu and wit tun ono minute, or even live minutes, the nation would have gained m the Sixty-second Congress aJone over worm ot time. . . . , "In its operation the Bobrofi system as applied to legislative bodies and conventions is simplicity itself. .When a roll-call is announced by the presiding oiKcer, the clerk instantly makes tue system ready for activo use, and each member presses a button or key located at his seat. When the button is pressed, thd member can see at bis stat how na has voted, and his vote duplicates itself -on a board in plain view of the whole body —' Yea/ ' Nay,' or ' Present,' as the case may be—by means of lights of differentcolors (and by letters ' I,' • Ss,' or l P ; ). " If tha member makes a mistake in voting), or wishes to change his vote, he can do so by simply pressing the button which registers his real intent without waiting or wasting time. " Ar'teT allowing tho time &et for voting, the Speaker announces that tho roll-call is closed. The clerk then presses a button, which closes the vote, and immediately a photographic record is produced for future Teferen.ee, and the total" aye " and "no " vote is instantly and automatically shown at the clerk's or Speaker's desk. The photographic record is, by the simple process of etching a reduction in zinc, inserted in the proceedings of the legislative or deliberative body at a. considerable saving over ordinary type-setting methoeta and a positive elimination of alt .chance of error.

" Assuming that all members pressed their voting buttons instantly and together, it would bo possible to take, count, and permanently record tho votes within 25scc. In actual practice, it should never take over one minute. ...

i" Electrio voting ... is more accurate thau the vocal roll-call, for it prevents errors eluci to faulty bearing of responses or mistakes in printing or adding.' "In addition to the saving of members' time, it will bring about positively marvellous economies in incidental service costs. By shortening roll-calls it will shorten sessions, and thus save telephone, telegraph, light, and heat bills, as well as lessen the expense for a variety of forms of labor and service employed when legislative bodies and conventions are sitting."